Diaspora Nationalism and Jeish Identity in Habsburg Galicia [Paperback]

Explains the construction of the Jewish nation in Galicia, the process by which traditional Jews modernized and the variety of identities they adopted.This study explores alternative ways to construct the modern Jewish nation. Jewish nationalism emerges from this book as a Diaspora phenomenon much broader than the Zionist movement. The history of this community of Jews in Galicia fills a critical lacuna in existing scholarship while revisiting the broader question of how Jewish nationalism was born. The book challenges the still-dominant Zionist narrative by demonstrating that Jewish nationalism was a part of the rising nationalist movements in Europe.This study explores alternative ways to construct the modern Jewish nation. Jewish nationalism emerges from this book as a Diaspora phenomenon much broader than the Zionist movement. The history of this community of Jews in Galicia fills a critical lacuna in existing scholarship while revisiting the broader question of how Jewish nationalism was born. The book challenges the still-dominant Zionist narrative by demonstrating that Jewish nationalism was a part of the rising nationalist movements in Europe.The triumph of Zionism has clouded recollection of competing forms of Jewish nationalism vying for power a century ago. This study explores alternative ways to construct the modern Jewish nation. Jewish nationalism emerges from this book as a Diaspora phenomenon much broader than the Zionist movement. Like its non-Jewish counterparts, Jewish nationalism was first and foremost a movement to nationalize Jews, to construct a modern Jewish nation while simultaneously masking its very modernity. This book traces this process in what was the second largest Jewish community in Europe, Galicia. The history of this vital but very much understudied community of Jews fills a critical lacuna in existing scholarship while revisiting the broader question of how Jewish nationalism  or indeed any modern nationalism  was born. Based ol†